The long-awaited Belgate development around IKEA was purchased by DDR, whose local properties include Cotswold. Hobby Lobby, PetSmart and Marshall’s announced they would relocate from their University City Blvd. sites by spring 2013. World Market, which had vacated the area, will return. Ulta, Old Navy and Shoe Carnival complete that complex. The existing zoning allows for smaller development along IKEA Blvd., so expect more announcements!
Mary Stanford Pitkin I have mixed feelings… I like to hear of new stores coming to University City but I worry what will happen to the shopping centers that currently have the stores that will be moving. The big empty Walmart building is bad enough… hate to see that area in the center of University City become a wasteland… it’s the “center” of Univ. City!
Ericka Michelle Ellis-Stewart What will happen to the spaces they are vacating? We don’t need more empty boxes.
University City Partners We share your concerns and are launching some significant retail research. WalMart is a special case since they have repeatedly turned down solid offers. But we are hopeful that the offer they are now considering, their 8th or so that I know about in the last 3 years, will be accepted. UCP’s role is to highlight those who choose to come here and support the stores who have been here a number of years. Shop with them, please. There are some bright spots since centers like Mallard Pointe are fully leased and that people who left the market like World Market are returning. But retail everywhere is in turmoil and areas like ours cannot escape those perils. That too is why we do land use studies to see what the future holds for those sites that are shifting.
Theresa McDonald What is emerging as best use for the lovely center around the lake with these retailers leaving?
I wonder what offers walmart had turned down in the past. I can’t believe there were 8 offers for that space!
I hope a publix or a whole foods goes into the old Walmart spot. That would help revitalize that shopping center.
I can’t imagine anything that would want to go into all the other empty spots though.
An empty Marshalls, Hobby Lobby, Office Depot, and World Market is a lot of huge empty boxes and there simply aren’t that many companies that can step in and fill those spaces.
Anytime I think of the walmart there I think of a rainy night right after they had cleared all they land, but before they graded it, I took my wrangler out there and had a blast.
There’s nothing pretty about these stores moving to new builds. I’d rather have no new builds and utilize the available spaces before they play musical chairs. Would love to see a bowling alley in the old Walmart. University Lanes is a scary place and Dave and Busters’ lanes are always busy and never polished.
They’re offers, so I’m going to presume they were for less than list price.[/quote]
Either that or maybe preventing a potential competitor from getting the space? The asking price could be set to high for that purpose.
They’re offers, so I’m going to presume they were for less than list price.[/quote]
Either that or maybe preventing a potential competitor from getting the space? The asking price could be set to high for that purpose.[/quote]
I’ve heard before that WalMart is one of the country’s largest real estate holders and purposefully turns down legitimate offers. Not sure of the reasoning but I had heard that before this article.
Walmart’s asking price is unrealistic, but that is intentional. Why allow for potential competition to come in?
It’s called going dark, it’s a practice most big box stores use for their own personal gain to the detriment of neighborhoods citizens.
With the stores leaving the places close to the lake, I would guess that the area could be primed for some apartments and condos (think South End like, not the suburban garden apartment style around campus). Maintain a good amount of ground floor retail and have the amenities of the lake and the light rail. Once a residential form start to make headway, Walmart will be more willing to sell if the use isn’t retail.
One issue with the Walmart site is it is just outside of the 1/2 mile radius of the proposed light rail station, therefore it technically can’t take advantage of dense residential zoning (TOD zoning). In fact the property was still designated for retail use in the rezoning. It will take some changes to the zoning by the city to get this area to its full potential.
With the vacant retail issue and the proposed parking garage it is VITAL for the future of the university area that this is done right. The way it looks now it is going to end up very wrong.
[quote=“Charlotte2002, post:8, topic:27366”]Walmart’s asking price is unrealistic, but that is intentional. Why allow for potential competition to come in?
It’s called going dark, it’s a practice most big box stores use for their own personal gain to the detriment of neighborhoods citizens.
With the stores leaving the places close to the lake, I would guess that the area could be primed for some apartments and condos (think South End like, not the suburban garden apartment style around campus). Maintain a good amount of ground floor retail and have the amenities of the lake and the light rail. Once a residential form start to make headway, Walmart will be more willing to sell if the use isn’t retail.
One issue with the Walmart site is it is just outside of the 1/2 mile radius of the proposed light rail station, therefore it technically can’t take advantage of dense residential zoning (TOD zoning). In fact the property was still designated for retail use in the rezoning. It will take some changes to the zoning by the city to get this area to its full potential.
With the vacant retail issue and the proposed parking garage it is VITAL for the future of the university area that this is done right. The way it looks now it is going to end up very wrong.[/quote]
Since UNC Charlotte has now used much of its current property I wonder if some of this soon to be vacant retail property could be used by the school. It may be too expensive to purchase and demolish big box store for the university to handle though.
My other idea would be some property developer purchase the old Walmart strip mall, demolish it, and build a mixed use housing development similar to Birkdale Village in Huntersville. I hope somebody does something with these vacant box stores in University City. The area around University Lake is really nice and I would hate to see University City start looking like the area around Eastland Mall with a bunch of rundown abandon stores.
[quote=“JaMiNNiNeR, post:10, topic:27366”]Since UNC Charlotte has now used much of its current property I wonder if some of this soon to be vacant retail property could be used by the school. It may be too expensive to purchase and demolish big box store for the university to handle though.
My other idea would be some property developer purchase the old Walmart strip mall, demolish it, and build a mixed use housing development similar to Birkdale Village in Huntersville. I hope somebody does something with these vacant box stores in University City. The area around University Lake is really nice and I would hate to see University City start looking like the area around Eastland Mall with a bunch of rundown abandon stores.[/quote]
Even if you take out wetlands, protected wooded areas and high grade areas; the University is no where near to having used up its available land.
[quote=“CharSFNiners, post:9, topic:27366”][quote=“Charlotte2002, post:8, topic:27366”]Walmart’s asking price is unrealistic, but that is intentional. Why allow for potential competition to come in?
It’s called going dark, it’s a practice most big box stores use for their own personal gain to the detriment of neighborhoods citizens.
With the stores leaving the places close to the lake, I would guess that the area could be primed for some apartments and condos (think South End like, not the suburban garden apartment style around campus). Maintain a good amount of ground floor retail and have the amenities of the lake and the light rail. Once a residential form start to make headway, Walmart will be more willing to sell if the use isn’t retail.
One issue with the Walmart site is it is just outside of the 1/2 mile radius of the proposed light rail station, therefore it technically can’t take advantage of dense residential zoning (TOD zoning). In fact the property was still designated for retail use in the rezoning. It will take some changes to the zoning by the city to get this area to its full potential.
With the vacant retail issue and the proposed parking garage it is VITAL for the future of the university area that this is done right. The way it looks now it is going to end up very wrong.[/quote]
With light rail coming in three-four years, I think we’ll see a renewed interest in University City and a good portion will be residential development. The University created University Place and it’s time for it to step in and plan for it’s future.